Of Chocolates and Roses
by thir13enth
Summary: When Lyon appeared on her doorstep that snowy Christmas eve with a large rectangular package in one hand and a large bouquet of luscious red roses and a matching heart-shaped box in the other, Meredy knew that it was going to indeed be a sweet holiday season. Lyredy.


**Honestly I don't even know the rationale behind Lyredy.**

 **Screw my tumblr friends (cough** boogey56 **cough** blamedorange **cough)** **for this. I literally was eating dinner. Choked on some vegetables while I thought of a story that fit Lyredy so damn well. Got up from the table and walked to my phone to write down some notes. Sat back down and shoved the rest of my food into my face and then cleared out the kitchen as the rest of the story wrote itself out, subsequently taking my thoughts into the blank Word document.**

 **Needless to say, I was not amused.**

 **But here's some holiday-themed Lyredy fluff. I'm always about a day behind the rest of the world so hopefully you can still tolerate some holiday stuff. ;) Enjoy!**

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When Lyon appeared on her doorstep that snowy Christmas eve with a large rectangular package in one hand and a large bouquet of luscious red roses and a matching heart-shaped box in the other, Meredy knew that it was going to indeed be a sweet holiday season—in fact, her very first of the winter vacations with her newfound boyfriend.

"Meredy, my sweet," he greeted her, stepping into her apartment.

"Hey," the pink-haired woman replied back, pecking him quickly on the cheek and slipping behind him to close the door behind him. She gave him the space to toss off his boots, helping him remove his coat and winter clothes, setting aside the gifts that he had at hand for her.

The heart-shaped box was most definitely chocolates, she observed, giving the package a discreet rattle.

The rectangular one though…it was quite heavy!

Her heart skipped thinking that her Lyon had put such an effort into their first holiday season together. Screw Ultear and Jellal and them warning her that Lyon would be too much for her to handle. In fact, she was doing _just fine_ with all these benefits that he was presenting her.

Lyon was the perfect boyfriend.

He was conversational—and never ran out of things to say. He always looked his best—glittering in the sun and obviously knowing how to take good care of himself. He was proud—never afraid to introduce her to all of his friends and not hesitant about telling her that he loved her.

And best of all, he had confidence—in fact, just enough to get past the awkward who-says-I-love-you first phase and who-asks-for-the-label-first phase.

However, as he turned back around after hanging his scarf and coat onto the rack to pick up the gifts from the side of the hallway, Meredy felt a distinct thud of her stomach hitting the bottom of her abdomen.

Crap. Lyon was the perfect boyfriend but yet she was the furthest thing from a decent girlfriend—she didn't even have anything prepared for him yet!

Meredy mentally slapped both her hands against her face. She _knew_ she had forgotten to pick up something at the store this morning! She _knew_ he had been planning on coming over. She could have gotten wine, she could have gotten cheese, she could have gotten crackers, she could have gotten _so many things_ while she was wandering the aisles of the grocery store that morning and yet here she was in her undecorated apartment with absolutely nothing to feed Lyon except—

"I, um, I can heat up some leftover rice and spinach for you!" she offered.

"That's quite alright, Meredy. I had myself a fantastic dinner-for-one at a nearby restaurant before coming here," he told her, as he sat down on her sofa, placing all his gifts on her coffee table. "I didn't want to implore my delicate tastes for food on you."

"How considerate of you," she retorted, rolling her eyes.

"Come here, Meredy," he smoothly said, changing the subject, raising his arm and coaxing him with the body gesture for her to sit next to him on the cushions. "Regardless of whether or not I was being considerate, I hope you've already eaten because I was hoping to get on with dessert."

Ah, yes—the chocolates!

The woman pretended that she had absolutely no suspicion that the heart-shaped box was full of chocolates and did her best to keep her mouth from over-salivating while she was imagining the variety of fillings captured within the shells of white, dark, and milk cocoa.

"Dessert, huh?" she purred, sitting down and putting her hands on his lap, bringing her nose very close to his face. "What's for dessert then?"

He smiled, a somewhat salacious smile on his lips.

"Me," he replied.

Well…that was her Lyon.

Always surprising her.

But at the moment, she really wanted chocolate and—as much as yes, he was definitely looking very cuddly and yes, he had definitely built quite a bit of muscle since joining the weightlifting class in the last three months—she was a tad bit disappointed that he didn't mention the heart-shaped box on the box.

Nevertheless, Meredy decided that she would play his games for now.

She smiled sweetly at him. "Of course," she replied, closing the distance and pressing her lips against his.

"Mm," he said, letting out a short moan. She felt him smile under her kiss before he pulled her away, shaking a finger at her. "Now, now, Meredy. I know that you can't resist me, but I wanted to show you what I got for you first!"

The pink-haired girlfriend agreed and sat back, tucking her hands back into her lap.

Ah, yes. _This_ was what she had been anticipating since he walked in through the doorway.

"Alright then, Lyon," she said, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. "Show me what you got."

"You're absolutely going to love it," he told her with a wide smile and light blush over his cheeks. "I spent a lot of time thinking about what to get you and I think this is going to be perfect."

She couldn't help her own lips from curling up with even more happiness in response to him. She was practically flushing and nervous with excitement. God, Lyon was _so adorable_ when he was like this. She just wanted to cradle him up in her arms, press his face up against her chest, and cover him up in kisses whenever he had that boyish smile and rosy cheeks.

He lifted up the large rectangular and skinny gift from the table, heaving it onto her lap, where the heavy package sank into her thighs.

"What could this ever be?" she giggled, looking at him.

The man didn't give her one single hint—but the flash of his dark eyes was enough to reinforce that it was going to be a great gift.

Meredy popped off the bow daintily, setting it aside on the table next to the to-be-opened chocolate box, before she carefully stripped the package of its ribbons. Lyon balanced the gift for her, encouraging her to just rip the damn gift apart, rather than slowly revealing it. Finally, she gave up with the well-taped edges of the package and curled her index finger underneath some wrapping, pulling down against the grain of the paper harshly.

Her heart practically burst out of her chest when the wrapping flew off, revealing—

"Ah."

Staring back at her was an oil painting of her very-one-and-only Lyon, offering her a flirtatious wink and a lurid smirk. The Lyon of the painting was reclined back onto his very muscularly defined left arm, his button-down shirt completely having fallen off his shoulders, bunching around his elbows, showing off a sculpted torso leading right down to the waistband of his low rise slim fit black jeans, where his right hand was just lightly hovering over the large bulge of his crotch.

The artwork literally sparkled with the excessive amount of glitter on it.

Well…that was her Lyon.

Always surprising her.

"It's…" and her voice drew to a halt. She let the silence surpass her.

The silver-haired man waited anxiously for her answer, desperate for her words.

"It's beautiful," she finally said, her lips in a tight smile. She nodded twice.

"Oh, but of course!" he replied ecstatically, going on to tell her all the details behind the gift. "The artist I paid for the commission was very talented and I definitely went out of my way to pose and paid well for every single catered minute. This was obviously not a cheap gift, my sweet Meredy!"

"That's fantastic."

"Indeed, it's splendid. Look how much it resembles me!" he exclaimed, pointing at the rock hard pectorals and the 20-pack set of rippled abdominal muscles.

"I love it."

"I _knew_ you would. That's _precisely_ why I got it _just_ for you!" he cooed, nuzzling the side of her face.

Her head turned to catch his eyes, her eyebrow arching. "You mean so that I can hang this up on my wall and look at your luxurious self while I'm chopping carrots or baking pies?"

"Exactly," he said, crossing his arms and gloating, sitting back into the sofa. "A brilliant idea, no? Now you will never forget what I look like and you will never find a reason to complain about not seeing me as often as you would like."

She rolled her eyes to herself.

"How could I ever forget what you looked like?" she muttered under her breath.

"Oh, you compliment me too much, my dear Meredy," Lyon grinned, waving a hand at her. "I know you can't forget what I look like—I have an unforgettable composition, but now you have more of me to treasure."

"As if there wasn't enough for me to do so," she sighed, putting the painting against the wall next to the sofa. "I'm going to hang this up once I get the chance. I'll have to drop by the department store and get screws and other tools."

The painting _was_ pretty heavy after all. She'd probably need to actually properly drill holes and secure the damn thing.

"Actually," Lyon suddenly said, pointing a finger up to the ceiling, "That's why I decided to bring hardware supplies with me—so that I would save you the trouble and you could get right to putting that portrait of me onto your wall. I knew that you would love the gift and wouldn't be able to wait to display it right away!"

Meredy blinked. "Oh wow," she said. "Where—"

And when her boyfriend reached for the heart-shaped box, she realized that the rattle that she had heard within the seemingly chocolate-filled package was really probably just screwdrivers and hooks.

"See here!" the man beamed, popping open the box and showing her the many supplies within. "Don't you think it was so innovative of me to use this heart-shaped package? It complements the _love_ that I'm giving you in that painting—how clever, right?"

"Very," the pinkette responded.

After a moment, she added her true thoughts.

"I thought that the heart-shaped box would have chocolates," she admitted half-heartedly.

Lyon tilted his head, the smile from his face disappearing and becoming very serious, seeing her upset.

"Oh, Meredy…" he said softly. "I'm sorry that I disappointed you."

She looked down at the ground for a couple of seconds, glumly.

Well, at least he apologized—

"But Meredy, I thought we already talked about your sweet obsession," he reminded her. "You even explicitly told me to stop you from consuming any chocolate this month—no matter how much you wanted to!"

She pouted, sitting back down and resting her elbows onto her thighs while she grumbled into her fists.

"It's the holiday season, Lyon…"

"Hey—I'm just doing what you commandeered me to do over two weeks ago," he defended. "I'm keeping you accountable and being a responsible boyfriend."

"Mhm."

He stood up from the sofa. "Now—let's hang up this painting of my gorgeous self on your wall!"

She sighed, standing back up to her feet.

And about an hour later, a painting of his gorgeous self was on her wall.

"Perfect—if I could say so myself," he mused, stepping back and taking a long look. He turned his onyx eyes to her. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Of course," she replied, automatically.

She turned around and plopped onto her sofa, watching Lyon poised in front of the painting, admiring himself.

"Yeah…" he repeated to himself. "Perfect."

She crossed her legs and folded her arms.

"There's one more thing though," he declared, turning around. "One more thing and this holiday season would be even more perfect than this painting on your wall."

"Oh yeah?" she asked.

At this point, she was ready for anything.

"Yeah," he said, coming back towards her and offering her a hand to help her up from the couch.

She could stand up by herself—thank you very much—and she made a point to do it, lifting herself to her full height and standing next to him as tall as she could.

"Just…promise me that you won't freak out, okay?" he told her.

"I won't," she confirmed, unamused.

What could it ever be now?

After a disappointed box of "chocolates" and a less-than-exciting commission, maybe the bouquet of roses were for something else altogether—

Maybe for him to pose with while she took pictures so that they could prepare ahead of time for Valentine's Day shoots?

Maybe for him to pluck off so that he could spread fresh petals over a steamy bubble bath while he slept over for the night?

Maybe for him to thread between his teeth so that he could seduce her to an elegant dance of tango and showcase his newly learned brilliant foot coordination?

She silently watched him pick up the bundle of roses, before he suddenly went down on one knee, producing a small dark navy squarish box from behind his back, presenting it to her in his free hand while he held up the rich bouquet of flowers to her.

Meredy barely realized it happened when it actually happened.

"L-Lyon!" she gasped, her heart fluttering hard against her chest. "What—what—"

"Meredy," he said steadily, looking up into her eyes. "I know that this is something that may seem very short notice—and I know that we haven't even been dating for a year..." He took a quick nervous breath before continuing. "But I know we have something really special. And I just can't imagine the rest of my life without you by my side."

She was speechless. She knew that her eyes were definitely wide and unblinking and that her jaw had definitely dropped to the floor.

"I..." she struggled to get out, her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

A hot ball of emotion pressed against her throat and her vision went a little blurry.

He chuckled and bit his lip. "And I mean…I can't imagine anyone else being able to tolerate such a narcissistic and self-serving ass like me…so…" and he gulped, "…so will you marry me?"

Meredy closed her eyes for a moment, feeling her eyelids flittering.

"Oh my god," she finally got out in a single breathy exhale.

Lyon waited patiently for her answer, not taking his eyes off of her.

"Oh _Lyon,_ " she said, reaching down to lift him from his knee and embrace him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck and standing on her tiptoes, pressing her cheek against his.

There was really no other way for her to answer.

" _Yes,_ Lyon," she replied. " _Yes_."

Somewhere between embraces and kisses and whispers and smiles and blushes and oh-my-gods and skipping hearts and hurried breaths, he lifted her left hand and slipped a jeweled band around the fourth finger.

Meredy looked at the addition to her hand, wide-eyed—still completely in shock.

"Oh, don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me," Lyon said, a proud smile over his face, bringing her in for another hug and a kiss. "I know you can't help it. No one can."

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but sneak another glance at the gold ring around her finger.

Well…that was her Lyon.

Always surprising her.

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 **Definitely turned out a lot longer than I expected, teehee. Cute stuff all the same. ;) Drop a note!**

 **thir13enth**


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